1. Technical Field
The technology relates to the field of chemistry, and more particularly to supported catalysts, catalyst carriers, and catalysts supports. The catalyst supports are spherical in shape and suitable in many applications that require packed supported catalyst or support material in general.
2. Description of the Related Art
Catalysts are used in a variety of chemical reactions, both in the laboratory as well as in industrial applications. Catalysts may be supported or unsupported, homogeneous or non-homogeneous in nature. The common factor among all catalysts is that they are used to either initiate or increase the rate of a chemical reaction, or both, and that they are chemically unchanged by the chemical reaction. They may undergo physical changes, however. In many instances, the catalyst may be regenerated.
In certain industrial processes, it is relatively common that catalysts are supported on inert materials, frequently ceramic materials that play no chemical role in the chemical reactions that are being catalyzed. However, the supports do play a significant physical role in providing the catalyst to the reactants in a way that facilitates the chemical reaction. For example, the catalyst may be distributed on the support surface in such a manner as to provide efficient contact with reactants and thereby promote the desired chemical reaction.
In continuous process industrial applications, the fluid reactants often flow through apparatus and encounter the supported catalysts in packed beds. These packed beds are physical supports within which the supported catalysts are retained as the reactants (and reaction products) flow past them in the continuous processes. These continuous processes using packed beds of catalysts are often encountered in the chemical industry, such as production of ammonia, production of methanol, hydrogen and Syn Gas, in oil refining processes, such as, for example, continuous reforming of naphtha to produce high octane reformate, continuous hydro-desulfurization processes for diesel and kerosene precursors, and hydrocracking to produce hydrogenated shorter chain hydrocarbons from larger chain hydrocarbons. Of course, supported catalysts are used in a wide range of other applications as well, in industries ranging from the manufacture of polymers to the manufacture of iron and steel.